April 2018

On Being An Artist- Screening afternoon with CVAN

Friday 27th of April   2-4pm, FREE
Artcore, 3 Charnwood Street, Derby, DE1 2GT


In 2016 six artists, living and working in the East Midlands, were selected to take part in Document, a project that set out to tell their story, in their voice. Since then the Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands (CVAN EM) has worked with those artists as they have reflected on their practice and captured their experiences.

BELPER ARTS FESTIVAL AWARDED NATIONAL LOTTERY GRANT

National Lottery support for Belper Arts Festival to mark First World War Centenary

Today Belper Arts Festival has received £4800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a project, IN WARTIME 1917 -  1922 in Belper. Made possible by National Lottery players , the project will focus on life in Belper during the last two years of the First World War and the aftermath.

DCAS Young Peoples Art Exhibition

Donut Creative Arts Studio (DCAS) in Chesterfield are holding their annual art exhibition ‘Read Between the Lines’ on 14th – 18th May 2018. All the wonderful creative work has been made by young people who attend the centre and is based on the theme of books. ‘Read Between the Lines’ will showcase 2D, 3D art and media work and we would love you to come and have a look. The exhibition will be available for viewing Monday 14th to Friday 18th May 9am till 5pm,

BELPER ARTS FESTIVAL 2019 'VOICES OF THE VALLEY'

Even before the first note has been sung and the final curtain has descended on Belper Arts Festival 2018, the organisers have revealed a major event for 2019.

 

'VOICES OF THE VALLEY' will bring together choirs, groups and individuals from up and down the Derwent Valley for a weekend of song.

 

Spirit MD Hyde

Martin D Hyde is a contemporary artist based in Ashbourne in the Peak
District. He creates expressive abstract paintings using acrylic on canvas.
Martin's work is about life as a person living with depression, those around
him, and his place in the world; the highs, the lows - love, loss, mood,

Carsington Water Wild Writing Workshops

Saturday 12th and 19th May 2018 10am-2pm I am inviting you to join me to take part in this exciting writing project at Carsington Water this spring. Carsington Water is 25 years old this year and I am working with local people to create a poetry trail to celebrate this beautiful landscape and its wildlife. If you are interested in nature and/or enjoy creative writing, this could be your chance to be published in an anthology later this year.

Derbyshire baker Luke Evans wins top award for loaf – at first attempt

Family firm Luke Evans Bakery in Derbyshire has tasted a slice of success after its granary loaf was awarded the title of Best Wholegrain Loaf in Britain at one of the UK’s biggest food and drink exhibitions.

It was the first time that the Riddings-based bakery had entered an award in living memory.

The 400g Country Grain granary loaf took top slot at the awards, staged at the Farm Shop & Deli Show at Birmingham’s NEC – part of a large exhibition of trade shows aimed at the food and drink sector.

Free lambing open day at Croots Farm Shop in Derbyshire

Popular Derbyshire farm shop Croots is staging a special lambing day on Sunday 29th April.

Free to visit, the event is an opportunity for families to pop into the lambing sheds and see some of the scores of lambs that have been born at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, near Duffield, this season.

The first lambs at the farm arrived on 9th April and around 130 are expected over three weeks.

Free advice for businesses looking to trade in China

Small businesses in Derbyshire considering manufacturing or selling their products and services in China are invited to a free masterclass led by the China-Britain Business Council.

The seminar, which will cover the topic of contracting and intellectual property, and be held between 8.30am and 1.30pm on 18 May 2018 at County Hall in Matlock.

Your business could be part of England’s world-class bookable tourism offer...

The Peak District National Park is one of the chosen parks for the £1 Million Making Great Memories in England’s National Parks project and Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire would like to invite you to an information session so you can learn more about the project and how to get involved.

At this Information Session we will talk you through the project background, ideas developed for experiences so far and what would be required from you if your business were to be involved.

Rula Lenska headlines a packed programme at The Rotunda Theatre for Buxton Fringe 2018

In a varied and exciting programme of theatre, comedy and musicals Rula Lenska, one of the UK’s best-loved actresses, will be taking time off from her busy Coronation Street filming schedule to perform her one-woman show From Dzikow to Willesden Green. She is one of a number of talented performers appearing in the sky-blue geodesic dome popping up in the Pavilion Gardens once again this July for the Buxton Fringe.

Derby athletes triumph at 2018 Commonwealth Games

Derby Arena athletes have achieved unprecedented success alongside City of Derby swimmers at this year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Several gold, silver and bronze medals have been won, and Team England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all benefited from the achievements of Derbyshire athletes.

Moorside Writers

Chesterfield Library

'First  Tuesday' Meetings are held between 2 pm and 4pm every month except August and are suitable for anyone  who is interested in discussing and undertaking practical exercises in creative writing - prose or poetry

They are held in the Meeting Room Lower Ground Floor - Next to 'Browser' Cafe 

No booking necessary- just turn up

Call Out for Artist Wildlife & Community Project – Wirksworth Festival

The Wirksworth Festival is now seeking expressions of interest from creative practitioners to work with local people to create new work inspired by local wildlife sites.

The Commission

We want to work with an artist that has the skills and experience to manage and co-ordinate the production of a participatory artwork that reflects the habitats of wildlife sites around Wirksworth for display at Wirksworth Arts Festival in September 2018.

Artcore artist opportunity- Re-Imagine the city residency

We welcome artists from different disciplines to apply to Re-Imagine the City Residency.

The residency aims to give the chance to explore issues that shape the city, working with local communities to map, re-imagine and influence the places where we live and work.

Deadline to apply: Midnight 24th of April

Keep reading to find out more!          

Derby College Joins Digital Engineering Academy Initiative

Following the announcement by Skills Minister Anne Milton, the Collab Group of colleges has secured funding as part of the Government's Flexible Learning Fund to deliver an innovative “Digital Engineering Academy.”

Birmingham Metropolitan College will lead the project along with fellow Collab Group members, Derby College, Middlesbrough College, Bridgwater College, and Capital City Training Group.

Vinci Construction will act as the lead employer partner and will work with our member colleges to upskill the next generation of digital engineers.

Imagine never having heard The Beatles before

Imagine the joy of hearing The Beatles for the first time  – and you’ll get a flavour of a new show by Barb Jungr and John McDaniel which is heading for Buxton International Festival 55 years after The Fab Four first played the town.

Come Together is the duo’s interpretation of The Beatles work which has won five-star reviews from London to New York thanks to Barb’s unique reinterpretive skills and John’s stunning and surprising arrangements of some of the most sublime and beloved songs ever written.

National Dance Company Wales TERRA FIRMA

Derby Theatre Tuesday 8 – Wednesday 9 May "Every single part of this production is ethereal, heart-stopping magic" Wales Arts Review (Tundra)

Derby Theatre is delighted to play host to National Dance Company Wales next month with their spring tour, Terra Firma.

Furthest From The Sea Artist Bursaries

Furthest from the Sea to offer Artist Bursaries after successful Arts Council England National Lottery bid.

Furthest from the Sea Music, Comedy & Arts CIC is looking for up to 4 Derbyshire-based individuals, groups or organisations to create new work to be featured at this summer’s ‘Furthest from the Sea Festival’ taking place across The Cathedral Quarter, Derby on Saturday 16th June 2018.

All works must be family friendly, able to be completed within the festival timescales and suitable to be performed outdoors in city centre locations.   

Conservation Focus For Derby College Animal Unit Open Day

Derby College’s Animal Unit at Broomfield Hall in Morley will be raising the profile of conservation issues around the world and closer to home as part of its open day on Sunday April 22.

Students have prepared a number of displays to highlight work that they have completed during their study programmes such as the risk to ocean species from discarded plastics.

They will also share the work they have done to rehabilitate and return hedgehogs to the wild as well as conservation work completed during previous study trips to South Africa.

Agricultural Insight for Derby College Students

Agriculture students at Derby College’s Broomfield Hall campus have spent three days in the Czech Republic where they gained an insight into the development of farm machinery.

The group were hosted by tractor manufacturing company Zetor where they were able to test drive the latest machinery, tour the production facility and see the workings of a nearby 6,000 acre farm.

Derby College Agriculture lecturer Neil Townley explained: “This is the third time we have been invited by Zetor to visit their factory and they pulled out all the stops to make us welcome.

Sinfonia Viva Shortlisted For National Award

A partnership project involving Derby-based Sinfonia Viva,the Orchestra of the East Midlands, has been shortlisted for a prestigious RPS (Royal Philharmonic Society) Music Award – the highest recognition for live classical music in the UK.

Sinfonia Viva has worked in partnership with Orchestras Live, East Riding Council and Manchester Camerata orchestra on a two-year ‘Classically Yours’ project.

It involved a number of community engagement projects and performances reaching more than 2,000 people in Yorkshire as part of the Hull UK City of Culture 2017 programme.

Opera on Location

Opera on Location join forces with the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra for a special semi-staged performance of Mozart’s masterpiece: The Marriage of Figaro.

This April, Sheffield’s only professional opera company partner with the renowned Sheffield Chamber Orchestra, to bring this rousing, well-known opera to Victoria Hall for one night only.

Pantomime Dance Auditions Announced

Derby LIVE and Little Wolf Entertainment are pleased to announce the date of the annual auditions for the pantomime children's ensemble. The open auditions will take place at Derby Arena on Sunday 24 June.

Jack and the Beanstalk will be staged at Derby Arena from Saturday 8 December 2018 to Saturday 5 January 2019.

Derby Book Festival 2018

The fourth Derby Book Festival returns from 1 - 9 June 2018 with another great programme  of over 90 events featuring internationally acclaimed writers, poets, historians, politicians, illustrators, storytellers and musicians for all ages and interests.

Derby Film Festival

Derby Film Festival returns between 4 – 13 May with ten days of fantastic film premieres, previews, guests, talks and more. Based at QUAD – Derby, Derby Film Festival this year welcomes guests including Actress & Singer Toyah Willcox for an on stage conversation about her career on screen and Mandie Fletcher , director of hit sitcoms like Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder and Only Fools And Horses for a discussion of her career making Britain laugh and her recent moving into cinematic features.

Roundhouse Corporate Appoints New Sales Director

Roundhouse Corporate, the commercial division of the Derby College Group, has appointed Darren Jackson as Sales Director to drive forward the organisation’s  growth.

Darren joins Roundhouse Corporate with more than 12 years’ B2B sales management experience across multiple sectors including software development and training.

He will lead the Roundhouse Corporate sales operations – working with businesses across the UK to meet their apprenticeship and staff training requirements.

Business Students Join Sky Recruitment Solutions Academy

Sky Recruitment Solutions in Derby and Ripley have joined Derby College’s innovative Employer Academy programme to showcase the career opportunities available to students in the industry.

Six Business students based at the Roundhouse have joined the Sky Recruitment Solutions Academy, headed by Managing Director David Torrington.

They are Mehran Ali (18) and Ashleigh-Jade Spencer (17) from Derby, Priya Lehal (17) and Jay Bansil (18) from Littleover, Alieu Conteh (17) from Long Eaton and Pawel Klukowicz (17) from Osmaston.

School Pupils Complete Construction Skills Challenges

Pupils from local schools competed in three different construction skills challenges organised by staff at Derby College.

Pupils from Merrill Academy, Murray Park Community School, Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy, John Flamsteed Community School, and The Royal School for the Deaf Derby, competed in Brickwork, Painting and Decorating and Plastering challenges.

The competition was organised by Derby College’s pre-16 team who coordinate vocational programmes for school pupils at the College as part of an extended curriculum offer and the Construction academy.

Playwriting Workshop with Tina Jay

Playwriting Workshop with Tina Jay

Saturday 19th May, 10.00 am to 3.00 pm

Chesterfield Library

 

Join award- winning playwright Tina Jay for a one-day workshop. Explore and develop a range of dramatic writing techniques for creating your own short or full length play.

 

Buxton has the best of Friends, says new Patron

Buxton International Festival has one of the best Friends organisations in the music world, their new Patron Wyn Davies believes.  

Wyn, who takes on the role from the Friends’ first patron Donald Maxwell, is an internationally renowned conductor who first appeared at the Buxton Festival in 1983 when he conducted the children’s opera James and the Giant Peach.

His work has taken him from New York to New Zealand, and although there are friends groups supporting music events across the globe, nobody does it like they do in Buxton.

Marketing Officer

£19,623 (full time / 35 hrs. per week / flexi time) with supplementary payments for any additional weekend and unsociable hours worked.

Derby College Students Complete School Outdoor Project

Horticulture and Arboriculture students at Derby College’s Broomfield Hall in Morley have brought an outdoor area at Cotmanhay Junior School back to life for the benefit of local children.

The students have surveyed and cleared the overgrown area behind the schools and created a woodland walk to an outdoor reading and study area as well as creating a series of willow sculptures.

NO MORE BOG-STANDARD LOO RATINGS FOR DERBYSHIRE

More than 100 Derbyshire loos have been reviewed through a new TripAdvisor-style app.

Brand new app Cleen, allows hygiene-conscious users to review washrooms and toilet facilities in venues and businesses and so far, Derbyshire has seen reviews in a number of venues including leisure centres, restaurants and bars.

The app which is free to download has seen positive feedback with just over 60% of the reviews with comments ranging from;

“Lovely clean toilets nice hand wash and hand cream” to “very clean facilities, in an old brick building but kept beautifully.”

St Peters Quarter Live – Saturday April 14

The first St Peters Quarter Live event of 2018 will be held at the Spot on Saturday April 14 with a line-up of rousing music performed by three local choirs.

Acts on April 14 between 11am and 3pm include Derby’s Rebel Women's Choir, who are based at Derby Women’s Centre and have a repertoire of inspiring songs of sisterhood, women's protest and women's rebellion. 

Cathedral Quarter Launches New CQ Saturdays Programme

Derby’s Cathedral Quarter, which launched its new five-year Business Improvement District (BID) programme last month, has announced a new calendar of free street entertainment for the coming months.

CQ Saturdays is part of the BID’s aim to continue to develop the great Cathedral Quarter lifestyle experience for visitors and people working in the area to enjoy.

Starting on Saturday May 12 and then every second Saturday of the month through to September, CQ Saturdays Street Circus will return to the Waterfall stage in the Market Place.

Wathall’s Easter Appeal Egg-cells Again

Family-owned G Wathall & Son Ltd, the city’s longest established independent funeral directors, have delivered more than 200 Easter eggs to Sure Start Rosehill for distribution to local families.

Wathall’s, which celebrates its 160th anniversary this year, launched its annual Easter appeal recently and collected chocolate eggs donated by members of the public, local businesses, staff, family and friends at its branches in Macklin Street, Derby; Ashbourne, Borrowash and Alvaston.

Croots Farm Shop co-owner appointed director for national farm retail organisation

The co-owner of one of Derbyshire’s most popular farm shops has been appointed to the board of directors of FARMA, the trade association supporting farm retail.

Kay Croot, who runs Croots Farm Shop near Duffield with husband Steve, was voted into the position at the association’s annual conference held at The Forest Pines Hotel and Golf Resort in North Lincolnshire.

Kay hopes that her appointment will give a stronger voice to small and medium-sized farm shops across the country.

Outgoing Festival artistic director praised for boosting Buxton

Buxton International Festival’s outgoing Artistic Director Stephen Barlow has been praised for bringing worldwide acclaim to the annual celebration of opera, music and books.

At the end of his seven-year tenure, Stephen has confirmed that the 2018 Festival will be his last at Buxton and he will be leaving in late July.

But new Chief Executive Officer Michael Williams said that he was delighted to confirm that Stephen will conduct one of the Festival opera productions in 2019, which sees the 40th anniversary of the Festival.

Buxton leads the way for arts in the north

Buxton International Festival’s “special, unique brilliance” is leading the way for the arts in the north of England, the London Evening Standard’s new Associate Editor Julian Glover said on becoming a member of its board of directors.

Julian, a former chief speech writer for David Cameron when he was Prime Minister, will bring his experience in the media and government to bear in planning the future of the Festival as it approaches its 40th anniversary.

The Buxton Spa Prize 2018 Open for Entry

The Buxton Spa Prize is an open art competition celebrating the town’s culture, natural beauty and heritage. Last year the competition attracted more than 150 artists. The aim of The Buxton Spa Prize is to make the town an internationally recognised centre for visual arts.

MARGARET KEYS IN CONCERT

Soprano Margaret Keys will open Belper Arts Festival with a special concert featuring guests the Fishpond Choir and Bel Canto on 5 May at St. Peter's Church, Belper.

The concert begins a month of art, drama, music, comedy, photography and creativity.

THE MARGARET KEYS INTERVIEW

Inbetween appearing with Michael Crawford and Russell Watson, Irish soprano Margaret Keys will be opening Belper Arts Festival with a special concert. George Gunby caught up with Margaret on a rare day off.

Junction Arts: Open Call for Artist

Where: New Bolsover Model Village, Bolsover, Derbyshire
Partners: Bolsover District Council, Robert Woodheads Ltd,
Friends of New Bolsover Residents Group
Background: Extracts taken from the New Bolsover Model Village Activity Plan

Indietracks Festival

We’re really pleased to announce that Amber Arcades, Gwenno, Spinning Coin, Tigercats, Colour Me Wednesday and Tinsel Heart are among 24 artists and DJs added to the Indietracks 2018 line up today.

They’ll join artists we’ve already announced for this year’s festival, including British Sea Power, Honeyblood, The Lovely Eggs, Dream Wife, Girl Ray, Sacred Paws, Darren Hayman, Even As We Speak and Anna Burch.